Tony's Travel Blog: RAGBRAI XLVII: Day 4, Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Day 4 from Indianola and Centerville was the longest day of the ride, officially mapping out at eighty four miles. The beginning of the day had a little bit of a different feel since Lindsay and I were the only ones doing the entire ride that day. Dad and Dick did the second half of the day. Unfortunately, Lindsay had to battle a slow leak in her tire all day so between that and the distance, for most of the day’s ride we focused on grinding out the miles. So there’s not a lot of pictures or commentary for this day.

There was one random highlight of the day, however. Until 2018, I had one bicycling jersey, a brown and yellow Deschutes Brewery jersey that my cousin Pam in Seattle had bought at a Goodwill for $5 four or five years ago. Since it was my only jersey, I wore it a lot and for whatever reason, Mom isn’t a huge fan of this jersey so that made me like it more. Lindsay, however, liked it because since there aren’t too many jerseys with its color scheme, it made me easier to find in the crowds of RAGBRAI.

Lindsay can spot me in this jersey!

I first discovered Lindsay’s leak when I filled up her tires and the front one was completely flat. So I filled it up and it seemed to hold air so we departed. As we progressed, it was apparent that it was very slowly leaking air. When we got to Liberty Center, the bicycle repair line was very long, so I clumsily tried to fill it with it up with a CO2 cannister and mostly failed. So we proceeded to Lacona, where Lindsay got in line for the bicycle repair while I went to get us some food. After 20 minutes, she hadn’t moved, but we fortunately found someone with a pump and refilled it before continuing to Chariton. And she was able to make it all the way to Centerville.

Since I have the picture below with Mom while wearing her “favorite” jersey of mine while we’re in a parking lot in Chariton, this is a great opportunity to discuss her role as our support crew. Everyday while we were pedaling away, Mom was driving the green Chevy pickup from overnight town to meeting town to overnight town navigating amongst thousands of other vehicles. In the morning, her typical routine would be to leave the overnight town and drive to the meeting town where she would find a place to park on a side street or parking lot. Then she would stand along the bicycle route flagging us down and directing us to spot for all of us to meet or letting us know the location of the truck. Then when we departed the meeting town, she would drive to the next overnight town and flag us down again. Most significantly, she gave up a week of vacation to do support for Lindsay and I. A week off in the summer for Lindsay and I isn’t a big deal because we have ten or eleven weeks off. But for her (and Dad) to give up a week to help us do all of RAGBRAI was very much appreciated. And she even said that it was more fun than she thought it would be! Thanks, Mom! Love you!